Investigating the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R & D Project Groups

TLDR: In this paper, the authors carried out an empirical test of the extent to which the rate of communica- tion between a project group and the outside world decreases with mean project tenure and how far performance decreases with project tenure.

Abstract: The Not-Invented-Here (NIH) syn- drome is defined as the tendency of a project group of stable composition to believe it pos- sess~~ a monopoly of knowledge of its field, which leads it to reject new ideas from outsiders to the likely detriment of its performance. The authors have carried out an empirical test of the extent to which the rate of communica- tion between a project group and the outside world decreases with mean project tenure and how far performance decreases with project tenure. The study, carried out in a large laboratory, shows that performance increases up to 1.5 years tenure, stays steady for a time but by five years has declined noticeably. This tendency is best accounted for by the marked decline in communication rate among group members and between them and critical external sources of information. The authors analyse the significance of this finding and suggest means of maintaining the vitality of long-standing project teams.